UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I hope this question isn't too vague...

i recently switched from RedHat to Solaris 10, and found that the parts of a script that copy files between directories no longer work because escape sequences are appearing at the start and end of the filenames being read

#!/usr/bin/bash
cd ${fromDirectory}
for file in `ls -1 bkup*`
do
cp $file ${toDirectory}
done

but the cp command fails, because there are escape sequences being inserted at the start and end of the filenames, and the file is therefore not being found.

I thought it could be some sort of stty issue or terminal setting which I've not set. Any ideas?

First you need to quote your variables, then I'd recommend to rename those files later. The following modified code was tested with filenames with escape chars in them:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/bash
cd ${fromDirectory}

for file in *bkup*
 do
    cp "$file" "${toDirectory}"
 done